TireSmoke.org

Thanks for the offer! Wont be doing house stuff -- carpet being installed Friday, so everything should be done. I'll call you Friday after work to coordinate.

-Dave

Got a late start tonight -- didn't get out of work till 6:30, went to Summit and picked up new heads. Got home around 8:45, ate some dinner, helped Gwen move the TV back into the family room, and just as I was about to head outside, my cousin stopped over with his new puppy, Archie. So we hung out for about an hour. I finally made it out to the garage about 11pm.

I got all the major stuff removed short of the heads and intake. The intake is unbolted and ready to be peeled off. The heads still need to be unbolted, but I think that'll go pretty quick.

I think I made an error in order of operation -- I didn't unpack the heads until I was done working, right around 1am and I'd really like to get some paint on them. I should've done that first. Might try and do that first thing in the morning. Paul will be here in a short 7 1/2 hours.

Mmmmm... new heads! Troy's puppy Archie (and my new kitchen flooring!) Engine compartment stripped down -Dave

Well it's been a very productive 24 hours at Tiresmoke Central. Paul came over this morning and he taped/painted the new heads while I worked on getting the old heads removed. Had to disconnect the steering shaft to get at a couple rear head bolts on the drivers side.

Once the heads were removed, we looked at number 3, and found that the exhaust valve was indeed bent. I was pretty happy to see a definitive problem. After removing it from the head, we chucked it in the drill, and you can easily see the wobble. I looked at #3 from the motor they came off of and didnt see a mark on the piston, so not sure how/when it happened. I dont recall seeing a mark on the Blazer's #3 piston either.

Paul wire-wheeled the head bolts while I scraped the gasket surfaces on the block. We took a quick lunch break and Autozone trip for blue towels and then came back and got the heads bolted on and torqued. It was 2pm by now and Paul headed for home. Thanks again for all the help today!! I went inside for a little bit and ended up crashing on the couch for a few hours.

So after a nap and some dinner, I went back out and threw a little touch up paint on the exhaust first, then went and got the pushrods/rockers installed and adjusted the valves. I set the intake on, but I didnt quite get it right on first contact and ended up sliding it back a bit. I may have to re-do it if it leaks. I have another issue with the intake too -- there's a pipe plug on the front of it that goes into the coolant. I want to pull it out so that I can put the temp sensor for the electric fans in there, but it's *really* stuck and doesn't want to come out. It's an allen head and I don't want to round it out. I can put the sensor in one of the heads, but I'd prefer it in the intake.

I got the exhaust re-installed into the chassis but not bolted in. Taking the exhaust in/out requires removing the trans crossmember, loosening the starter and removing and oil filter. I also need to re-connect the steering shaft, install alternator and P/S pump.

At this point, I'm calling it a night. I should be able to easily finish it tomorrow and have it running again.

-Dave

SUCCESS! (again)

Got everything together and took it for the first test drive. Definitely running better. Now I just gotta get a few small things squared away.

*) Pedal wont give me WOT
*) Exhaust seems to be hitting new rear springs
*) Wiring for fans and lock-up converter
*) Coax Holley to get out. She went for the test drive and doesn't wanna get out..

Time to clean up the garage a bit..

-Dave

Congratulatons!! Good call on the need for heads and the choice of new ones.

Plenty of time to touchup details before Carlisle! Nice work!

GM

TireSmoker wrote:SUCCESS! (again)

Got everything together and took it for the first test drive. Definitely running better. Now I just gotta get a few small things squared away.

*) Pedal wont give me WOT
*) Exhaust seems to be hitting new rear springs
*) Wiring for fans and lock-up converter
*) Coax Holley to get out. She went for the test drive and doesn't wanna get out..

Time to clean up the garage a bit..

-Dave

Progress this afternoon -- fans are completely wired for automatic operation, loomed, tested, and verified.

I finally got Holley out of the truck. This was funny -- I was going on a quick test drive and asked her if she wanted to go for a ride. She jumped right in, and I basically went around the block. I get back to the garage, open the door, but she wouldn't get out. I told her to get out with increasing levels of sternness but she just laid down in the back. I left the door open (disconnected battery), went inside, took a shower and got cleaned up. Go back out to the garage -- it's now about 45 minutes after we had gotten back and she's still inside. It was maybe 1:30pm at this point and I hadn't eaten all day. Decided to take it for a longer test drive out to Maple City at Auburn & Rt 6. Got there, left the windows down, poured some water in a bowl in the back, and left her there while we ate. After we were done, came back out and she's just hanging out in the passenger seat. Drove home and she finally jumped out. She made sure she got her ride!

I'm stumped why I can't get to WOT. The stock throttle cable is still in there and honestly it's much too long, it loops around by the distributor. But I have the end fully pulled out when it's hooked to the large hole on the Holley's throttle arm (using appropriate bushings). Using that whole should give me the most travel. It's like the pedal doesn't have enough travel. I have a much shorter throttle cable (Lokar brand) that I had used on the Chevelle when it was still carb'd but I'm not sure what difference it might make. There's some plastic panels in the way under the dash to get at the part of the pedal where the cable goes. Now that the motor is running on all 8, I'll dig into it.

All in all, it's been a very productive and satisfying weekend. I've got 11 days till Carlisle.

-Dave

Tackled the throttle cable tonight. I had an old Lokar unit from the Chevelle lying around, in the basement, that I wanted to replace the stock cable with. The stock cable was much too long, by probably 2 feet at least.

While removing the old cable, I learned something interesting about the pedal assembly. There is a little nub that travels in a slot to limit pedal movement. I'm not getting anywhere near the end on the full throttle side. The pedal goes to the carpet, but I wonder if the carpet needs to be massaged/formed a little bit, maybe with a heat gun. Or if I lengthen the slot of the closed-throttle side, I could pull the pedal 'out' further, giving me more total travel. I didn't do anything with the slot tonight, but it's something to try in the future.

With the new cable, I'm much closer to WOT than I was before, but still not there. On a test drive, it got to 4500 in 1st before shifting and I could finally start to feel the potential of the engine. It felt pretty good. I figure it'll be good to 5000-5300 (exhaust restricted). Lunati rates the cam to 5700 rpm.

Working under the dash sucks, btw.

-Dave

New exhaust band clamps arrived last night -- I initially ordered the wrong ones and it had that awful leaking exhaust noise. I also doubled up the gasket on the driver's side manifold since it was ticking and it originally had double gaskets too. (passenger side already double-gasketed) So it finally sounds better. On a related note, I'm not a fan of Magnaflow mufflers. That is what is on this thing and they're just too loud. That's a project for another time, it at all. However, I think Tony's old mufflers were 2 1/4" Dynomax mufflers, which I like, and my pipes are 2 1/4". I could probably get his old mufflers for a Real Good Price.

I'd really like to either change the front springs or re-install the rear lowering blocks before Carlisle, which will probably be the last major task. I'm starting to get a little worn out on wrenching on this thing. Need some quality drive time.

-Dave

Rear blocks would be easier for now IMO.

-BP

Agreed. Ordered a set of longer u-bolts from JagsThatRun.com shortly after my post. Hope they get here by the weekend.

As a plus -- within 10 minutes, I got a phone call from Mike Knell at JTR to confirm what I was doing and that I was getting the right part. That's really good customer service. I almost didn't answer the call, being from a CA number, but glad I did.

-Dave

My U-bolts arrived today -- that's pretty good for USPS from California for something I ordered over lunch on Wednesday. Took me about 2 innings of baseball to swap the lowering blocks back in and it looks *much* better. It's late, so I'll test drive it tomorrow.

-Dave

Smoke stopped over yesterday with the Blazer and Holley. The stance after putting the blocks in the rear is awesome! It's low and flat and IMO looks perfect. It sounds pretty sweet too and definitely looks like it's got some kick to it.

The dogs got to play too and seemed to have fun.

-BP

Well, speaking of flat, that's how it came home from my attempted trip to Carlisle -- on a flatbed. About 2.5 hours into the trip, i started hearing a noise from the engine. I got off the turnpike at the nearest exit (PA Rt 31, Donegal), and it didn't sound good. Oil pressure and temp were fine, but definitely a rapping noise near the front of the engine. I pulled both valve covers in the Subway parking lot where I ended up, but couldn't find anything obvious. I figured it was only gonna get worse, so I threw in the towel.

To call it disappointing would be an understatement. I pulled it into the garage, washed & covered it, and pushed it to the back. The Chevelle needs front brakes and an oil change before drag racing. The Corvette needs a rag joint installed, plus it had a running problem the last time I tried to drive it in 2016. Nothing serious, hopefully a dirty carb or worn out points.

To be continued at a later date....

-Dave

Dave,

Sorry to hear that. Hope it's not serious. Did you try starting it with the accessory belts off? Here's hoping for something external.